[GIS] Defining PyCharm to understand PyQGIS and GDAL

installationpycharmpyqgispython-2.7

I use PyQGIS in standalone apps and I have defined paths in Windows and Python paths to take Python API from outside QGIS.
I have created some simple tools using PyQGIS and GDAL in standalone script using Python editor and all work fine without error qgis.core and GDAL work nice.

Now I want to use PyCharm editor and I have big problems.

First, it shows me two interpreters python.exe and bin/python.exe
but have some paths.

Now in PyCharm if I use python.exe, it shows me dll error in GDAL and qgis.core. If i use Python from QGIS then I have imports error in other packages i need.

Why does it do that?

In Python, IDLE works fine.

Here the windows define paths :

pythonpath

C:\OSGeo4W64\apps\qgis-ltr\python
C:\OSGeo4W64\apps\qgis-ltr\plugins
C:\OSGeo4W64\apps\Python27\Lib\site-packages

path

C:\OSGeo4W64\bin
C:\OSGeo4W64\apps\qgis-ltr\bin
C:\OSGeo4W64\share\gdal
C:\Python27\
C:\Python27\Scripts

I think so the problems is the paths.

I have installed Python version 2.7.13 QGIS have his python… if in the define paths QGIS python path is below from PYTHON path then QGIS Python API don't work, if I change order and is above then work but recognizes site-packages from QGIS PYTHON ONLY…that I think is error

Best Answer

QGis has installed it's own version of Python. So you have two installations. The PYTHONPATH is used to specify which directories to scan for source modules. In this case PyCharm appears to be confused as to which installation to use. But you should be able to configure it as needed.

`sys.path` is initialized from PYTHONPATH

Both versions of your PyCharm paths, when compared to your working list, are missing:

C:\\Python27\\Lib\\idlelib
C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\python27.zip
C:\\Python27\\lib\\plat-win

You should change the Interpreter Paths in PyCharm to match the working list.

Testing paths in PyCharm

The short program:

import sys
for p in sys.path:
    print(p)

Can be used to verify that all of the paths needed by your program are available in your PyCharm environment.

Related Solutions

[GIS] Understanding qgis.core import error: no module named qgis.core

I found it, it was just a small tricky approach.

in OsGeo4w website says you have to install QGIS by Osgeo4w setup which it sets all kinds of path variables for you ...

( it was NOT entirely true, in my case)

leave your PATH, Path, PYTHONPATH, PYTHONHOME to where it's functional for all modules unless qgis's.

I removed QGIS standalone and installed QGIS via OsGeo4w however. so the path variables that I wrote in the question must change to the same directories but NOT in QGIS 2.18 ROOT, rather in C:\OSGeo4W64.

for example, my PYTHONHOME is now :

C:\OSGeo4W64\apps\Python27

and so on...

so I created a whatever.cmd file using notepad, with this information in it :

@echo off

SET OSGEO4W_ROOT=C:\OSGeo4W64

call "%OSGEO4W_ROOT%"\bin\o4w_env.bat

call "%OSGEO4W_ROOT%"\apps\grass\grass-6.4.3\etc\env.bat

@echo off

path %PATH%;%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\qgis\bin

path %PATH%;%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\grass\grass-6.4.3\lib

set PYTHONPATH=%PYTHONPATH%;%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\qgis\python;

set PYTHONPATH=%PYTHONPATH%;%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\Python27\Lib\site-packages

set QGIS_PREFIX_PATH=%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\qgis

set PATH=C:\Program Files\JetBrains\PyCharm Community Edition 2017.1.4\bin;%PATH%

start "PyCharm aware of Quantum GIS" /B "C:\Program Files\JetBrains\PyCharm Community Edition 2017.1.4\bin\pycharm64.exe" %*

and saved it to somewhere.

So if you use Qgis standalone just instead of osgeo_root write your qgis_root directory.

the few last line are dedicated to familiarizing all this mess to Pycharm.

be careful of typing mistakes. I learned, one wrong char can mess it up...

PyCharm – Adding QGIS-Specific Python Interpreter to PyCharm on Windows

At least i managed to start Pycharm with an OSGEO4W Environment. My PyCharm is 2017.3, 64bit-Edition. My OSGEO4W is 32bit and uses QGIS3/Python3. I think it will be easy to change it for QGIS2/Python2.7 or anything with 64bit. I do start PyCharm with the batch-file in PyCharms bin directory, called by a custom Script to set the needed environment variables, allowing to make QGIS-Plugins with Qt and QGIS-Standalone-Applications. When PyCharm opens I create a new Project and set the Interpreter to the QGIS python in %OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\Python36.

This is the batch file content:

@echo off
REM CHANGE THESE
SET OSGEO4W_ROOT=C:\OSGeo4W64
SET PYCHARMBIN=%~d0\software\pycharm\bin

if not exist %OSGEO4W_ROOT% (
    echo Can't find "%OSGEO4W_ROOT%". Please edit.
    pause
    goto eof
)

set path=%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\qgis\bin;%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\bin;%WINDIR%\system32;%WINDIR%;%WINDIR%\system32\WBem

for %%F in ("%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\etc\ini\*.bat") do call "%%F"

call %OSGEO4W_ROOT%\bin\py3_env.bat
call %OSGEO4W_ROOT%\bin\qt5_env.bat

set QGIS_PREFIX_PATH=%OSGEO4W_ROOT:\=/%/apps/qgis
set GDAL_FILENAME_IS_UTF8=YES
rem Set VSI cache to be used as buffer, see #6448
set VSI_CACHE=TRUE
set VSI_CACHE_SIZE=1000000
set QT_PLUGIN_PATH=%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\qgis\qtplugins;%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\qt5\plugins

REM for QGIS
set PYTHONPATH=%OSGEO4W_ROOT%\apps\qgis\python;%PYTHONPATH%

call "%PYCHARMBIN%\pycharm.bat %*

EDIT: I too encountered the the SDK-Error, starting PyCharm without a batch file, right from the windows start menue. When it asked for opening/creating a project, i choosed "Create New Project" and then under "Project Interpreter" choosed Existing Interpreter with just pointing to a OSGEO4W-python.exe never used before in pycharm, it shows the SDK-Error. I bet you can delete the bad project and create a new one, starting pycharm with the correct batch file...